1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a vibration damper for a motor vehicle including an accordion boot and a protective insert.
2. Description of the Related Art
DE 10 2010 063 101 A1 discloses a generic vibration damper which has a damper tube with a longitudinal extension axis (A), a spring disk, a protective insert and a protective accordion boot. The spring disk has a tubular spring disk collar surrounding a damper tube in circumferential direction. The spring disk further has a contact portion spaced apart axially from the spring disk collar, a support spring being axially supported at the substantially plate-shaped radial extension of the contact portion. With its disk-shaped portion, the protective insert covers the surface of the contact portion of the spring disk facing the support spring. The spring disk collar is covered by the tubular portion of the protective insert. The protective accordion boot surrounds the damper tube in circumferential direction, one end of the protective accordion boot being axially supported at the protective insert.
When the vibration damper is under heavy stress, for example, when driving over potholes, it cannot be ruled out in view of the relatively small difference in diameter between the outer diameter of the protective insert and the inner diameter of the protective accordion boot in the shared contact area that the protective accordion boot will slip over the protective insert and come in contact with the support spring. If this were to happen, the protective accordion boot would rub against the spring during compression and/or rebound of the vibration damper and would damage the corrosion-resistant coating, which would inevitably lead to premature corrosion and breakage of the support spring.
In view of the set of problems mentioned above, it is an object of the present invention to further develop a vibration damper so as to prevent rubbing contact between the protective accordion boot and the support spring.